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The New York Marathon (Part 1)

After a typical restless night of pre-race sleep, I finally get up 3 minutes before my 5:00 am alarm and my first thought is crystal clear: “this is the morning of the New York Marathon.”

No foggy mind; no stumbling to the bathroom. Instead I pop out of bed and my legs feel straight as steel beams, feet anchored to the floor with railroad spikes. My heart is pounding and I look down at Jesse, still in bed.

“Jesse,” I whisper. “Its time to get ready to race.”

Breakfast: 5:30am

With my race-day bag packed and slung over my shoulder, Jesse and I ride the elevator with Jere Longman, reporter from the New York Times. “Did you get any sleep?” he asks.

I can’t remember. My mind is blank. “Enough,” I reply.

The lights are bright and the decorations sparse as the three of us walk into the Hilton conference room for catered breakfast. Round tables are half filled with focused athletes and their partners or coaches. The hum of voices is barely loud enough to cover the farting sound of my ladle dipping into the vat of gooey oatmeal before plopping it into a mug-sized bowl. As I scan the porridge toppings, all I can think about is which things won’t make me have to poop in the race. Raisins are definitely not safe. Milk is risky. Brown sugar it is.

The butterflies in my stomach make me feel full after three bites but I power through. I spot Kim Smith at the next table and take the seat next to her.

“Kim, how do I know if I’ve eaten enough for a marathon? How much did you eat?”

“I usually ask other people the same thing,” she jokes. “I had two bowls of oatmeal and a banana.”

“Shit. I only had one small bowl and I’m stuffed.”

“You should eat some more if you can,” she warns.

Being that Kim just ran the fastest half marathon ever on American soil, I plop another wad of gruel in the bowl, but I still can’t manage more than one slimy bite.

Last Minute Details

Its 6:00 and we’re passing through the unbelievably crowded lobby to pick up a coffee and get on the bus. One final bag check and I realize I forgot to cut the lining out of my race top so it wouldn’t squeeze my ribcage too much (big ribs). We decide to divide and conquer: Jesse gets the coffee and I track down a pair of blunt scissors from the bellman and start hacking away. A stick would have been equally useful. I realize I’m not breathing.

The Bus Ride

As I walk toward the buses, orange cloaked people are running toward me in a panic, “Where have you been?” they exclaim. I look at my watch and its 6:22. The buses are set to depart at 6:30 but I’m the last one on. If this were a track meet, I’d be early! Whoopsie.

Walking down the center isle past all my settled competitors I spot my OTC Teammate “Skip” sitting alone. As soon as I plop down next to her skinny frame, she Dumbledore’s me and strikes the nervousness out with one bewitching smile. For an hour we watch the sun pink the sky and silver the water as New York City’s collective pulse gravitates toward Staten Island.

60 comments on “The New York Marathon (Part 1)”

Anyways, I, too, could only eat one bowl of oatmeal, but then I ate a Picky Bar in the start village ~1.5 before starting. It was a nutless wonder with SIX chocolate chips which I considered a gift from the Picky Bar Gods. That was one of the best parts of the day.

Isn’t it crazy just how many people ran the freaking thing and had to get out to Staten Island? I mean, it was like 47,000 people. That’s like the student population of a large university. And you guys were like the Rhodes/Fullbright scholars of the group.

And the fact that you compared Sally to Dumbledore makes me even more glad I yelled, “OMG” at her. I should’ve hugged her, too, to complete the freaking out episode when I spotted her poor unsuspecting self. Missed opportunity.

I am so glad I’m not the only kook who counts the chocolate chips in his Picky Bars (will probably crash my bike one day because of this). I don’t think they should contain any more — I like the fact that they are special.

Lauren, congrats on your first marathon. Great outlook and spirit. Your commentary is refreshingly honest and often funny as hell

I don’t know about stomach ulcers, but doesn’t coffee make you poop? I’ve considered drinking coffee pre-race for the (legal) benefits, but I can’t because I am unsure if the benefits are worth the poop risks.

In response to Scott’s skepticism of coffee pre-race: I cannot live without it. Not only because it wakes me up, because it speeds up my need to go #2, so that I get it all out of my system before leaving my house! I don’t recommend trying it the first time before a race, though : ).

I hope I’m not broaching a verboten subject, nor do I know all the official rules; but I also suffer from prerace jitters the night before a race, and two weeks ago I ran a 3 minute (masters) PR in a 10-mile race after taking a Xanax the night before. Really put the hammer down over the last four miles, just like you’re supposed to. Just sayin’…

ps–Yes, I slept like a baby, and had no problems the following morning. Obviously.

Corazon Gilbert – Jamie two thumps up for your phgtooraphs, you captured such a beautiful image one of a kind miracle that God created in this world.. You captured every little molecule of Lauren.Hope to see more of your work. Good luck and more Power

Consider this comment TMI, but I feel the urge to share..I used to take Immodium before long runs and races for that one issue…too many marathons interrupted by a stomach revolting. Then it backfired once…I always wondered what elites did, though. I ran Boston in 2007 and surprisingly got my monthly visitor in the athlete’s village, which led to a potential PR race for me becoming a long run interrupted by five port-a-potty visits. Nightmare! I was somewhat comforted when I read that Deena Kastor had the exact same experience in the exact same race. But what do people normally do, especially when they’re elites? What would you have done? It is the worst problem to have!

No such thing as comment TMI on here. Other pro marathoners have recommended Immodium to me as well. Didn’t try it this time around, but I’d consider it. As for the monthly visitor, I was lucky in that I got mine the day after NY Marathon and not the morning of because I would have had to stop 5 times as well. That sucks that it happened to you! Everyone reacts differently to their period and it looks like you and I are among the unlucky ones.

Cool: no 5k and no team tactics will ever phase you again! A trick that I’ve used for wall avoidance is to put half an energy bar in my cheek starting around 10-12mi and just letting the carbs & sugars seep into my blood stream. When the bar begins to taste like straw, I either spit it out or swallow it and chuck in a new one. Water helps the dissolution process. I’ve found that this ‘continuous infusion’ of nutrients works better than the intermittent 5k ‘batch loading.’ (‘Course I never tried filling my cheek full of energy bars at 5:45 pace…)
Your adventure has been fascinating and beautifully told: can’t wait to hear more. Neat that Skip went to the start with you: there’s a true friend. Rest well!

Good tip, although my mouth is always really wide open when I’m running so I don’t think it would work. At one point I had a gel in my mouth that was hardened from the cold air, and it was totally awkward trying to breath and chew/mush it at the same time. It probably takes practice.

On the food thing…my normal has been about 10 small pretzels before an early morning marathon and a thin bread with pb sandwich before a later marathon, like Boston. I can’t imagine eating oatmeal, much less two bowls! Amazing.

I was reading about you in the NY Times in bed the other night but couldn’t help but giggle when I read “I’m not afraid of hitting the wall,” Fleshman, 30, of Eugene, Ore., had said a few days earlier. “It would be an honor to hit the wall. I just don’t know what to do if I have to go to the bathroom.”” bahaha.

Don’t we just love how our body loves to give us surprises….runner’s trots, where it seems to bomb you during long runs or races. When I did my first and only marathon when I was 25, I basically pooped myself from mile 16-26.2!! During which I wondered which mile I would have to dive behind a tree or lack thereof?! It is a good thing that the marathon I was running was partly out in the middle of nowhere where I was free to “squat”. I didn’t want to quit because I wanted to finish my goal. So with my mom’s support she ran the last 10 miles with me and waited while I was one with nature 😉 I finished, not in the time frame I wanted to finish but there was no DNF by my name and I reached a goal and felt the love and support of my mom… After my marathon/one with nature experience, I ended up completing another road race, 20k of HILLS!! And I learned a new tip for my “problem”…IMODIUM!! It works!! I never run a race or a tri race without my best friend Imodium. And I have never had a problem since and I can eat what I want….I take a 1 pill the night before race and 1 pill the morning of race.

Happy training!! You are going to do great!! Go get your dreams….Congrats on your first marathon!! Yahoo!

I’ve heard of using Imodium from other marathoners as well. I’m going to put that in my kit for next time. Luckily I made it out of my first marathon ok, but a doo-zy is bound to happen to everyone at some point 🙂

Hi Lauren,
I am so honored to have met you. We walked across the street to Rosie O Grady’s from the Sheraton to find a room filled with elite marathoners. Everyone was so nice and so humble and I when I heard everyone’s time I couldn’t believe I was standing in the same room with such accomplished athetes. I spoke to your husband for awhile and told him about my all women’s triathlon club in New Jersey.. I loved his “anything” is possible attitude. He was incredibly proud of you. You have to imagine my surprise when I woke up on Monday monring and opened the NY times and saw that amazing article and then as a I am packing and I put my Runners World in my bag ( I say to my friend… I think that is the girl from last night) and it was! Very cool! I came home and sent out an email to my entire club that it was the best way to cap off my marathon weekend. Good luck to you Lauren in all that you do and for taking the time on your big night to speak with girl from New Jersey who ran a 4:51 NYC marathon! I hope you are still on an emotional high.

Colleen, it was great meeting you at Rosie O’Grady’s! And thanks for commenting on my blog! Congrats on your race too, and I hope you are feeling well and recovered. I’m just now coming back to life after a nice week of vacation. That must have been quite a trip to see someone from a bar in print the next day. I can imagine the scene! 🙂

Happy, Happy Birthday CINDY!!!!!I’ll be 49 two weeks from today, October 8th AAAuuuuggggghhhhh!!! I don’t know how I got this old, but I’ll be treasuring each and every day of this year since the next year peshus me over the top of that dang blasted hill!!!!Blessings,Sher

Great Race and good luck with your training to the Trials. Hope to see you at the Elite Hotel’s Suite in Houston. My wife is competing, but it is her fourth trials and is there to do her best. She is also a top nutritionist and I believe from listening to her many nutrition seminars, that coffee is ok if you regularly drink it and just drink a bit not too close to the start. I believe it does have some endurance benefits. She also is my coach and I have finished a dozen marathons and I tend to have stomach issues if I do not follow her advice. First, no fiber in the pre-race breakfast. I think oatmeal is high in fiber, but I maybe wrong. Must eat the meal no sooner than two-hours before race start. Better if it’s earlier. I practice this pre-race meals in long training runs. She tells me you can and must train your GI for the marathon. When I listen to her….my races are great and fun.

Thanks Dave. I appreciate the tips. I won’t be in Houston because I’m going to focus on the 5k Olympic Trials in Eugene in June, but all the best to you and your wife. I hope you have a great time out there! Say hi to my friend Stephanie Rothstein if you see her.

I have sat here on a great autumn (Fall to you) morning in England reading all your blogs leading up to New York. This last one was great, all of us mid packers can take solace that even elites have breakfast issues…they need to make a movie (film to us Brits) of your journey to New York…funny and inspiring in one go. Hope you get to visit us next year at the little track meet we havecoming up in London….when can we get to try picky bars in the UK ???

Hey Neal,
Glad you enjoyed the reading. I’ve spent the day reading on my couch watching the leaves fall off this gorgeous tree outside my front window that is the color of rainbow sherbet ice cream. Mind blowing.
Hope to see you in London this summer. I’ll be working my ass off to get there, that’s for sure.

Thanks Kim! It was really nice meeting you too. That was a great night, wasn’t it? One for the memory books for sure. Well done on your race too. 5:04 was it? Well, keep kicking ass and having fun out there. Your enthusiasm was contagious that night. Great energy!

Hi, Lauren, I was just reading the RW article about you. Best wishes, hope you learned a few things on that first Marathon.

It was a day with very tough competition and fast times, but that should help you in being realistic when it comes to Olympics and things like that.You will get stronger each year just from steady running and so it should give you about a solid decade more of peak performance before you have to slow down in the Marathon distance.

I can only say from experienece about the prerace food, avoid yoghurt and raw asparagus.

I will be reading your blog and following your career races, again, best wishes to you and your husband.
Patrick

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